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SPEECH 



HON. HORATIO SEYMOUR, 



ACADEMY OF MUSIC, BROOKLYN, 

October 22, 1862. 



Fellow Citizens: — The events of the last few 
weeks have essentially changed our relationship 
to the government. A few months ago we were 
apparently a minority who had no legal rights, no 
protection for our persons, no protection for our 
homes. But the elections that have taken place, 
from Maine to the Mississippi, have demonstrated 
that at every point, either the majorities of 
the Radical party have been diminished or they 
have encountered serious and signal defeats. — 
(Cheers.) For all moral purposes we are now the. 
representatives of that great Conservative part) 
which commands the situation. I do not speak of 
it as a mere revolution in office — I speak of the 
fact, which the world will heed, and which will be 
heeded, too, at the seat of government — that the 
American people demand a wise and conservative 
policy, looking to the restoration of our Unio; 1 , 
and meaning the upholding of our Constitution in 
all its consequences. (Cheers.) I stand before 
you, to-night, speaking in behalf of the great Con- 
servative interests of our country, as one who 
should be outspoken in his statements. I do not 
feel as one who comes before you to plead for 
your suffrages; but I feel as one who stands here 
now, knowing your sentiments, knowing your 
views, and having a right to say what policy wiJl 
govern us hereafter in our conduct towards the 
great question which now agitates the Amerh an 
mind. (Applause.) It has been truly stated that 
the life of our nation is in peril. This very propo- 
sition, involving, as it does, not alone our govern- 
ment, but our social system, our personal security, 
our home rights, is one of such magnitude that we 
are bound to approach it with an earnest, honest, 
sincere desire to do our whole duty in the premi- 
ses. (Cheers.) In that spirit I shall speak to 
you this night. I shall not find it necessary, in 
discussing these questions, to use a single epithet 
or to indulge in a single denunciation. If I am 
honored this night with the attendance of one of 
those who are politically opposed to me, I beg him 
to undei stand that I come here in no spirit of ar- 
roganee, with a view of dictating to him what his 
policy should be. I have no term of reproach as 
to the past ; but I do stand here mast earnestly to 
implore hira to listen, not to my wisdom, but to 



the wisdom of our fathers, who framed the Consti- 
tution. I ask him not to yield to our views. We 
seek no such triumph. But I wish to implore him 
to yield to the views of the great and good men 
who laid the foundation of the government and 
framed the Constitution under which we became 
so great, so prosperous, and so mighty as a na- 
tion. I stand here to invoke him to return again 
to those time-honored principles which for so many 
years were recognized by men of all classes as es- 
sential to our safety and our security as a people, 
■ripeaking then, as I feel I have a right to do, in 
behalf of the great Conservative party which from 
this time forth is to represent the policv of our 
government, I mean to be most explicit and out- 
spoken in all that I have to say. (Great applause.) 
I shrink from no questions. I seek to grapple 
with every problem involved in our present posi- 
tion. If the people of this State shall see fit to 
;>1 ice me again in the Executive chair, I wish to 
,:<> there with the full understanding on their part 
1 all my views and of all my purposes. (Cheer3.) 
>Vhat, then, is now the situation of this land ? I 
do not propose to look backward. I do not pro- 
pose to review the past. I propose, in the first 
j.laee, to inquire what is now the situation of our 
e-juntry, and what duties does that condition im- 
pose upon us. / believe the war might have been 
averted; but when I believe thus, I recognize the 
fact cf its existence ; and recognizing that fact, I 
accept it as a thing which I am bound to regard 
in all my views as to the policy of the future. I 
recognize and accept the fact that at this moment 
the destinies, the honor, the glory of our country, 
hang poised on the conflict of the battlefield. I 
recognize the fact now that whether we would 
have had war or not, it exists in all its vast pro- 
portions in our land ; and I recognize the fact now 
that it is the duty ef every man who loves his 
country, of every true man who would stand by its 
institutions, to see that the whole measure of his 
influence and all the weight of his power is thrown 
in that battle-field on the side of the ling of our 
Union. (Cheers.) For this reason, then, we are 
bound to do in the future what many of us have 
dor.o in the past. I have stood eroong the hills 
and vales of the country where I live to invoke 






E*sa 



our young men to rany around the standard of 
our conntry. I have done all that was in my 
power to do to uphold this Government. Al- 
though it was not an administration of my choice, 
yet still it was the Government of my country; I 
have invoked all men to stand loyally by it, be- 
cause such was their duty. (Cheers.) Now, It 
me state distinctly what I understand to be the 
position of the great Conservative classes of our 
land. I use this term "Conservative" in antago- 
nism to the term " RadieaL," for this reason : I do 
not ignore the existence of parties in our country; 
I do not wish to ignore them. I believe them to 
be essential to the wise and just conduct of our 
affaire. The Convention which met al B 
and which put in nomination another ticket, dif- 
ferent from that on which my name stands, saw 
fit to make a new line. They saw fit to seek a 
triumph not alone over us, but over the 0O1 
tive members of their own organization. They 
saw fit there to say that they would put in nomi- 
nation a ticket whose very presentation by that 
organization should be an argument at the I 
of our country, that their own pecu 
views of policy should be followed out by thifl 
government. Now, then, in behalf ot all (' 
ative men — I care not what party they miy have 
heretofore acted with — I accept the issues which 
they have made with us, and I will state them 
very plainly and clearly, to show whether at this 
time we should be sustained by the great '»o !y i ; 
the loyal, intelligent and conservative ci: 
our State. In the first place, then, we hold pr'n - 
ciples upon these subjects which are not held by 
our opponents, and which are essential, net only 
to our success in this threat war in which 
engaged, but which an Endbpenf il>le to the suc- 
cess of the Government under any dream 
I opposed the election of Mr. Lincoln. I d 
tlut result; but he was elected constitutionally, 
;md it was my duty to bow to that decision. I 
for the purpose of sustaining him as the Pn 
of the United States. I deplored the policy be 
adopted at the outset of his administration ; but 
it w is his right to decide and adopt a poli 
it was my duty to obey, and I yielded to the 
of rightful authority. My friends, we bare 
been opposed to the doctrine of the "higher law " 
— that doctrine that men have a right t o 
their own views, their own passions and pn 
against the law of the land or the d 
regularly constituted authorities acting within their 
Constitutional limits. (Applause and cheers.) — 
It is thus: because we hold that men arc dis- 
pleased with the laws of the land, the] 
have them repealed Constitutional 
must not be resisted. We hold, also, that if men 
are opposed to those in authority, the rightful 
remedy has been given them by the Constitution, 
That kind of remedy you applied in my case once. 
When you became tired of me, you turned me out. 
That is the remedy to be applied for the removal 
of unpopular olficers. Now, when we held the 
power of the State, we contended for these prin- 
ciples of loyalty to the laws, this doctrine of obe- 
to law— to the principle that vou arc 



bound to respect authority. Those principles j 
which we advocated then, we mean to p 
now, fully and completely. We tender, I 
this Government no conditional support. We rec- ) 
ognixe Mr. Lincoln as President of the United I 

—as the representative of its hon.>;. 
dignity and its strength; and though I am politi- 
cally opposed to him, I never have allowed 
to utter against him one disrespectful term, nor j 
will I ever allow myself to do so. 
to this Government, you have our firm i ■ 
our cmfidence, our unconditional loyalty. We 
impose no terms upon you, we do not ask 
adopt our policy, but to mark out anotl 
will receive our unwavering, our cheerful support. 
Tiiat is our position on this subject. This is the 
policy we have ever advocated ; not now al 
when we were in the majority, two \- 

12 well as now — when many of our 
Republi re denouncing the Adminis- 

tration of their own creation, when many of their 
journals wore indulging in language which we held 
to be unfit to be applied to the Chief Magistrate 
of the country, we avowed the sentiments I now 
i yoc. We look to the other side of the 
house, and what do we see there? They say that 

BOt loyal men; and we are not unfreipient- 
ly denounced as men untrue to our Government, 
notwithstanding we have not only made these de- 
clarations, but we have carried them out in the 
very letter and to the very spirit. Has their loy- 
nld ask, been unconditional f II i- then 

obedience been without tonus V I beg ol 
look back with me, and see how this f is, md 
what was it they demanded, before troop- 
be sent to defend the fl tg oi the country— of your 
country — that a policy should We adopted to please 
them. Who was it that did this thing but the ex- 

' ■' 
sensation.) Who were among the joun i 

\ iministration — 
I it with overthrow 
tain line of policy was not carried out ! V. re 
they Democratic editors? No, my friend 
know they were not. Who among the join 
was it that continuously expressed I 
ol the great Radical party of the court 
it all times endeavored to force their \ 
policy upon the Government of the-e IVivd 
States, without respect to the cmbarr.i--n.onta 
they might occa-ion ? Not the Democratic 
nab — not the Conservative journals. No, all 
but the men who denounced you and ra# 
• untrue to the institutions of the eountrw 
I loving that flag (poi -irsa»B 

Stripes) as well as they loved it. (<i 

• i ' 
them hero, and I appeal to j ot trojfl 

that t 1 d foremost in every measafl 

anient, and *■ 
hinder and 

: . ries >d -Tli it 
Now let me say this. The i 

ion to furnishing your Gofl 

I w'th all it demand- I armsfl 

men, it has. in addition to all that, a loyal 9*M 






/'* 



the pan of the people of the country. It 
I in vain you furnish arms ; it is vain to furnish ma- 

length, except, also, there be obedience to 
law and respect to Constitutional authority. Now, 
oy friends, we give to the Government that unity 
»f action, that entire concert of opinion, which is 
o bring the war to a prompt and triumphant close. 
Jut I appeal to you if that can be done on the 
ninciples and action endorsed by the Radical 
)arty of the country and the Radical press of the 
Country? (Cheers, and cries of "Xo!") I ask 
;>ou, my friends, if it is possible, if every man 
iorces his own will, his own feelings, his own 
lonest conviction, it may be, upon the action of 
;he Government, if this vast community can be 
brought to concert of action — to that unanimity 
){ purpose without which we can never e 
n bringing down this gigantic and wicked rebel- 
ion ? On the other hand — and now I appeal to 
^ou, my Radical friends — I ask you, if not to come 
o our ground — to that ground which we have ever 
leld, to throw away your higher law doctrine ; come 
o us on this plain and simple platform, that lay- 
ng down and putting away from among us dis- 
inct and disturbing views and opinions, we will all 
inite in declaring that the laws shall be m 
ind the constituted authorities of the country re- 
jected, and this war brought to a short and sue- 

..rmination, because we are a united peo 
>le. (Appl iuse.) I appeal to you if then 
jther ground of complete union — if there 
)ther ground of complete concord of action ? I 
isk your consideration for this proposition we 
nake you. I ask you, is this policy op; 
be Government? " Ought it not to l e 

other side of the house? Let them do 
Let them be as loyal as they may d< 
will join them in that; outlet them join 
hus end the contest, and then the clouds and the 

- which how overhang the land will be dis- 
tnd we will see before us a hope of ma- 
ting our country what it was three short y< 
— the glory, the admiration, and I 
.he world. (Applause.) In another thb 
must agree with me. And here, again, m 
:al friends, I invoke your assistance. Insubordi 
nation must be rebuked. Insubordination in the 
army, insubordination in the departments of Gov- 
ernment, must be put down. I appeal to you 
again with regard to another point. Who in the 
6eld are the Generals, who, at all times, have 
bowed cheerfully to the decisions and mandates of 
the Government ? (Cries of " McClellan I" and en- 
thn-iastic applause.) Who are those who have 
taken whatever positions have been assigned to 
them by the constituted authorities without com- 
plaint? Who have cheerfully and laboriously 
gone on performing their duties as well 
might or could, without disturbing the community 
with stories of personal wrongs or personal disap- 
pointments? (Applause.) On the other hand — 
and again I appeal to you if this is not true ? 
— who are the Generals who have been made prom- 
inent from the simple fact that they have placed 
themselves in antagonism to their superior?, or at- 
tempted to overturn the policy of the Government, 



y might gain for themselves peculiar dis- 
tinction, instead of confining themselves to faith- 
ful service in upholding the constituted authority, 
and winning victories on the battle-field? (A 
voice, "J. C.!") This spirit of insubordination 
must be put down, if we are to save the life of the 
country. 

But, my friends, another thing is necessary to 
the national life. The people mu3t be fairly dealt 
with. (Applause.) There must be no more with- 
holding of truths from the people's eyes. Why, 
look at this thing for a moment. Look at the 
consequences to the country, if this policy, that 
has so long kept us in darkness as to the actual 
condition of the country, is longer permitted to 
prevail. What do you hear said every day, when 
speakiDg of the war and its reverses ? What gen- 
tle terms are used — " We have been laboring un- 
der misapprehensions." I will adopt the term 
which they so calmly introduced — " misapprehen- 
sion." How happened it, my friends, that more 
than two hundred thousand Northern men, in the 
vigor of life — young men, the hopes of families, 
the pride and hope of our land — have been laid in 
new-made graves ? It is, indeed, a fact — and a 

, too — that we have misapprehended the 
power of those with whom we have been combat- 
ting. (Cheers.) Now, whence came all this mis- 
apprehension? Was it accidental or casual? 
! I - a came it about ? We were all of us taught at 

that the South had great resources. We 

ild of its productions, of the character of 
the country, and its great capabilities. We learn- 
ed in our early readings the character of the 
Southern people, and we weir taught to look upon 

■ ■ . 
Revolutionary struggle. We all heard of General 
Jackson and the battle 

We »11 gloried in the stern valor of Taylor. (Ap- 
plause.) The courage of the American people. 
ith alike, was known in every house 
bold in the land. But more than that : we of the 
great metropolis, you of the beautiful city of Brook 
lyn, while you every day looked out on the beauti- 
lul bay yonder, and saw vessels deeply freighted 
with the "rich productions of the South ; while you 
find in your workshops ten thousand evidences ol 
the wealth of the South to buy, and the ability tc 
• , you were made to believe for years past. 
that this was a helpless, dependent, poverty-strick 
en, imbecile people. How came it, that against 
your early teachings, against your readings in his 
tory, against the daily observations and experi 
ences of life, you entertained this monstrous mis 
take which has dyed the land red with the blooc 
which has flowed from the veins of your brethren ' 
Go back, my Radical friends, to your teachings, t< 
your Radical press, to your prayer meetings. G< 
back to the sacred house of God, and you will se 
that this monstrous lie was told by no accident am 
by no inadvertence. I tell you this fatal ignoranc 
wa3 the result of long years of systematic teachin; 
that spread upon the land the terrible calamitie 
that now flood it. (Cheers.) Say what yo 
please, think what you please, as the cause of th 
war. Say it is Slavery, say it is Abolitionism, sa, 



it is ambition, say it is the thirst of wealth ; but 
every man knows, from one end of the country to 
the other, North and South, that if the people had 
been well informed with regard to each other's 
powers and resources, North and South, this war, 
my friends, would never have been. (Cheers.) I 
assert, then, that the great underlying cause of 
these evils has been ignorance. But for this mis- 
apprehension, this fatal mistake, that was so insidi- 
ously inculcated in your minds, your country to- 
day would not be bathed in the blood shed by 
brothers in an unnatural and fratricidal war. 
(Cheers.) Now, I say, my friends, that the na- 
tional life demands the truth, the outspoken truth. 
We must no longer be amused by Cabinet officers 
and others in high places, who tell us that the war 
will be a matter of only thirty days or ninety days, 
or that it will be ended in the next three months. 
Do you remember a little while ago, when a man's 
person was unsafe in your own intelligent city ? 
If he said that three hundred thousand men could 
not crush out the rebellion, he was in danger of 
imprisonment ; and now more than two hundred 
thousand men sleep in bloody graves. (Cries of 
" That's so.") My Radical friends, I again invoke 
your attentiou. I do not believe that the conceal- 
ing a truth destroys the truth. I do not believe if 
you close our lips against fair and full debate, you 
will thereby avert the calamities which ignorance 
and a false direction of affairs must inevitably 
bring upon this land of ours. You may imprison 
gold — you may lock it up in banks or hide it in 
deep vaults, but I tell you, notwithstanding that, 
it tells a tale of depreciated currency, as surely as 
if it passed from hand to hand in the full light, of 
day. (Cheers.) Hide abuses in Government; 
lock U3 up if you will while we tell of the abuses 
and mistakes which have brought defeat upon our 
armies and slaughter upon our brethren, and which 
to-day redden the great ocean itself with the 
tlames of burning ships. Conceal these facts if 
vou will, but will that stay destruction 1 will that 
ambition be less hurtful, because you seal our lips? 
N T o, my friends, you but aggravate the evil. We 
tell you this for your benefit, as well as for our 
own. We belong to that great conservative party 
that will govern this country hereafter. (Cheers.) 
I tell you, my Radical friends, whether you like it 
or not, the day has come when a mighty political 
revolution is not only about to take place, b 
already actually taken place. (Applause.) I tell 
you that when we shall have that power whicli we 
will yet wield, we will not only ourselves enjoy 
free speech and free action, but we will extend the 
same privileges to you. In good faith, I tell you 
that we shall never retort the unworthy threats 
you made against us. (Applause.) And when 
you discuss our policy, when you condemn our 
judgments, you will be still protected by our 
strong arms as completely as we shall now protect 
ourselves. But there is another thing necessary 
to save the nation's life. That is, honesty and 
economy in the administration of public affairs. 
(Applause.) Now, you and I have not been un- 
frequently told, when we wished to point out what 
was regarded as great evils in public, that we were 



untrue to the country, and were diverting the pub- 
lic mind entirely from the affairs of the South into 
some other channel. (Laughter.) It was a punk 
to those people how we could had so much leisure 
to discuss the merits and demerits of individuals. 
But I am extremely puzzled to know how some of 
those people themselves can deem it worth their 
while to wiite long articles about a man so insig- 
nificant as myself. Whenever you and I attempt 
to look into the monstrous frauds which are being 
practiced upon the country, we are told we must 
not divert the public mind froru the gi eat war on 
the South. (Applause.) Why, my friends, look 
at these things. I tell you it is in vain for you to 
place armies in the field. It is in vain you freely 
oiler up your lives for your country. In vain you 
send your eons, brothers and friends to the field, 
for, I tell you, wheu they are placed on the battle 
field there is no wise system of government to sus- 
tain them there, no honest administration of affairs 
that will supply them with all the necessaries of 
life and the means of carrying on the war success- 
fully. None doubt this. All admit that corrup- 
tion destroys the army as well as it destroys the 
nation's morality. All men know that unle.-s you 
have honesty and economy in the government of 
national affairs, as in the coudact of private affairs, 
ruin inevitably follows. 

There is another matter to be referred to. By 
act of Congress, in 1808, when our fathers lived, 
who thought that honesty and integrity were es- 
sential to a nation's life, it was provh '.< d that no 
member of Congress should in any way be inte- 
rested in contracts, and heavy penalties were 
imposed to guard against the infraction of the law. 
i it law was subsequently amended, and the pro- 
\ i uon made more stringent ; but though contracts 
have been made since the outbreak of the rebel- 
g to hundreds of millions, the 
country, by no new act of Congress, has been 
protected by such provisions as the interest of the 
country at such a time demanded. I leave this 
m ittei to you, my Radical friends, to think over; 
I leave it to you, my Conservative friends — hither- 
to deterred by threats, deterred by imputations on 

.; I> uiiotism — to read these investigations, and 
to learn something of the frauds which have sap- 
nation's stability. John P. Hale, the 
an Senator, told the truth when he said 
that the Government had more to fear from cor- 
ruptions in its departments than it had from the 
enemy in tie field. Let me [ass on to the consid- 
eration of some other points. If you will examine 
this quc;tio:i for yourself — if you will sit down in 
your own home and inquire, as you would in 
regard to your own private iuterests, witli regard 
to your own private concerns — what is necessary 
to s'ave the public life, you will fiud that ycu will 
be called upon to do a great deal more and to say 
a great deal more than our friends upon the other 
side of the house deem entirely consistent with 
patriotism. Now, I appeal to you as business men, 
I appeal to you as men who, in all the concerns of 
life, regard all the principles I have staled, whether 
they should not be regarded in the conduct of our 
national affairs? Is corruption less dangerous 



/so 



pere than it is in the workshop or the counting- 
room ? Is depai tare from sound principles and 
rules of conduct less dangerous in the manage- 
ment of national affairs than in the conduct of 
private affairs? Il is only necessary in all those 
patters to apply to the concerns of your nation 
tho-c same principles which you all adhere to with 
regard to your own private interests, to learn that 
you cannot save the nation's life. Unless you will 
do what we now urge you to do, not only to main- 
tain your army, not only to support your Govern- 
ment, but, in addition to that, to demand a clear 
statement of the nation's affairs ; and then, too, to 
demand that those affairs shail be conducted with 
economy, with integrity, and with honesty. Now, 
my friends, we must not only save the nation's 
life, but I want to speak a few words as to the 
mode by which the nation's life shall be saved. 
It is not my remedy. I do not stand up before 
you to claim to be wiser than my fellows. I do 
not urge this upon you, my Radical friend, because 
it is a conclusion I have arrived at. It is wisdom 
in which you are as much interested as I am ; it is 
as much to your advantage as it is to mine. The 
remedy that I offer for you is the result of the 
wisdom, of the patriotism, of the suffering and of 
the toil of patriots of our own and of every land, 
who for long years have been endeavoring to work 
out principles of government that should benefit 
the human race. I mean the remedy for all this 
thing is the Constitution of the United States. 
(Cheers.) Now, the nation's life will not only be 
saved, but it must be saved, by a strict and rigid 
adherence to that great charter of your liberties. 
(Renewed cheers.) Why is it that in this day it 
is spoken of so lightly? That in a time when 
our country is agitated — when we are in the midst 
of a civil war — men are so prompt to desert the 
great barriers which upheld not only the institu- 
tions of our country, but which protect you and 
each man of you in your person and in your rights ? 
(Applause.) The Constitution of the United States ! 
Is it a mere parchment? Is it a mere dead letter? 
Is it a mere record, having no vitality and no 
value ? Tell me that yonder flag is but a piece o( 
patchwork and of bunting, instead of being, as it 
is, a glorious emblem, instinct with everything that 
arouses our patriotic feelings and appeals to the 
nation's pride. (Applause.) Why we, as I have 
told you, are not only in favor of a loyal support 
to this Government without condition, but we have 
another advantage over our opponents. We pro- 
pose to bring this war to a speedy and successful 
conclusion, because, my friends, we have a definite 
and determinate object, and that is, to restore the 
Union as it was. (Cheers.) We are told by a 
great many that they do not want the Union as it 
was, but the Union as it should be according to 
their ideas of what the Constitution shall be. 
(Renewed applause.) Look for a moment at this 
thing, without impeaching the wisdom of these 
men, without impeaching their patriotism. What 
is this proposition ? You, my friend, who want 
this Union saved, you who want to know if we are 
in favor of bringing this war to a successful con- 
clusion, why do you doubt us when we tell you 



what we propose to dc — that a thing is definite, 
and that something is within our reach ? What 
do you do, in the affairs of life, when you embark 
in a great undertaking ? Have you confidence in 
any project that is brought before you that is 
indefinite in its purposes and indefinite in its end ? 
What is this idea that men don't want the Consti- 
tution as it was, but they want an " amended 
Constitution." That implies that it is to be 
amended to suit the fancies and to suit the views 
of every man in our land. Have I not as good a 
right to say that the Constitution shall be amended 
to suit me, as Mr. Greeley has to say that it shall 
be amended to suit him? (Hisse3 for Greeley.) 
If you open this Pandora box, where does it end ? 
One man wants a provision that is to bear heavily 
upon one class of the country, and another man 
wants a provision that will bear heavily upon 
another section of the country. One man wants 
to work at a provision that interferes with his 
peculiar views of governmental policy as a per- 
sonal right. And when, my friend, you will for a 
moment tolerate this proposition that we are not 
to restore the Union as it was, you tolerate a pro- 
position that, in addition to all the evils of civil 
war and all the uncertainties which hang over our 
country, is to throw into this state of affairs an 
endless element of discord, and of confusion too. 
(Applause.) You must see this, and all men must 
feel this. " 

Now, what are the facts ? I again appeal to 
you, my Radical friends; for I speak for you as 
well as for myself and for those who are with me. 
For you we ask for good government, as well as 
for ourselves. I say to you, then, if you find in 
those journals that affect to lay before you facts 
concerning the nation, statements of the mon- 
strous frauds, clearly developed, not charged by us, 
not subjects of vague representations, but proved 
to exist by authentic documents emanating from 
Congress and public investigations, I appeal to 
you, at this time, when the nation's life is at stake, 
to seriously think about these terrible corruptions 
before pointed out to your attention. Our friends on 
the other side of the house love to talk about the 
nation's life being in danger, while they do not 
want you to talk about what is due to the nation's 
life. I tell you, my friends, that happy individual 
who hopes to conceal from the world the causes of 
his downward course, he hopes that concealment 
will be at another time remedied ; but he only 
hastens himself to an untimely end. I tell you 
that the Government which conceals frauds com- 
mitted against itself, and which considers it unpa- 
triotic to lay them bare, is on the road to de- 
struction. Let the matter of slavery be forgotten 
— let it be true that no African ever placed his 
foot upon the soil of this country — I tell you, if 
you have a corrupt Government you will be de- 
stroyed, you will be doomed as inevitably as if 
the army of the insurgents was this moment enter- 
ing the capital of your country. Corruption will 
not only destroy a nation's peace, but will destroy 
a nation's character. Let me call your attention 
to a fact that should be rung throughout the land, 
and I will ask you if it ever before has been pe- 



THE 



New York Weekly Argus. 

»-+-* 

To Maintain the Constitution and to Restore the Union. 



For years the Democratic and Conservative sentiment of the Nation has been keenly alive to the 
necessity of being faithfully and ably represented by a first-class Newspaper, published in the City 
of New Yoik, sustaining the same relation to it as does the New York Tribune to Abolitionism and 
all kinds of Radicalism. 

The undersigned, from their connection with the Albany Atlas and Argus — one of the oldest and 
best known Democratic papers in the Union — had been constantly urged to respond to this demand, 
and finally yielded to the wishes of their political friends, and transferred the publication of their 
Weekly to the City of New York, and issued it under the name of the 

MEW YORK WEEKLY ARGUS. 

The experiment has met with complete success. We are grateful to the friends of sound politi- 
cal principles, who have enabled us in a few months to establish, on a paying basis, a first-class New 
York Weekly Paper. We have every where met with cordial cooperation, and Clubs of Subscribers, 
from all parts of the country, are being rapidly added to our list. 

The friends of the New York Weekly Argus may boldly challenge comparison of it with any 
ether New York Weekly — both as to typographical appearance and the contents of its pages. They 
already insist, and we intend to make good their claim, that it is the 

g}mtifcMM$t Mil gt# WtM% ^t\%\mw m §tew Uotfc. 

No labor or expense will be spared to make a paper of which Democrats and Conservative men 
will be proud. The responsible Editors are 

OALVERT COMSTOCK, WILLIAM OASSIDY and ELON 00MST00K, 

With ample additional and special assistance in the several departments of the paper. 

To sustain such a paper, and enable it to influence the political sentiment of the nation, an ample 
subscription-list is necessaiy. Ours has already, in nine months, reached THIRTY THOUSAND, 
find we appeal to those whose opinions the paper represents to give it 

ONE HUNDRED THOUSAND SUBSCRIBERS, 

During the present year. This can be easily done by a general effort — as the paper is aiforded to 
Clubs at the low price of ONE DOLLAR A YEAR. Shall it be done? We leave the answer to 
those who wish the success of such a paper. 

TERMS. 

Single Subscriptions, per Annum, $ 2 00 

Three Copies, One Year, 5 00 

Eight Copies, " ....... 10 00 

Additional Copies, each, 1 20 

Twenty Copies to one address, 20 00 

With an extra copy to the person sending the club of twenty. 

To any person sending a club of 100, we will send the Albany Daiiy Atlas and Argus one year gratis, 

PAYABLE ALWAYS IN ADVANCE. 

Letters, whether containing remittances or otherwise, should be addressed to the undersigned, i 
CORNER OF BROADWAY AND TARK PLACE, (opposite City Hall Park,') NEW YORK. 

^OMSTOCK & CASSIDY pirorietors. ... 



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